Thursday, September 3, 2009

Daily Devotional - 9/3

Daily Prayer - Focus Letter C

Pray for:
Five things you are grateful for with the focus letter
Five people whose first or last name starts with focus letter
A country, city, or place that starts with the focus letter
An attitude you want to see grow and develop in you or your family with the focus letter

Dear Lord - Please let me hear your ever present voice and grant me the strength to obey


Psalm 3

Most people do not really understand God and waiting on Him. We are impatient and if we do not see it, we think nothing is happening. This is the world we live in. It only looks at the surface of life and believes what is seen. We have all heard the expression - I will believe it when I see it. But for God it is - Believe it, and then you will see it. We also live in a world currently mired in instant gratification. If something isn't happening immediately or in the time frame we map out then in our minds it isn't happening and will not happen in the future. But this is not God's way. God is the God of the unseen, of what is not. We must learn to see with new eyes and wait on Him.

The key is to look beyond the surface, to know God is working even when we don't see evidence. He is our shield. He is bestowing glory on us. He is lifting up our heads. Although I do not see it now, I know it is happening. This is like the story in the Old Testament of the angel that was delayed in coming. He was coming, and God is helping us but we do not know what is going on behind the scenes in our own lives. We do not know how the trials are changing us and helping us to grow. Only after it is over, sometimes, we can look back and see God's unseen hand that was at work. Often even our friends and families will not understand how God is working if they do not know Him. But we know.


The fact that we can go to sleep and wake up again the next day is because of God. Our mere existance is constant evidence to the working of God. We put no conscious thought into the most basic and important bodily functions and yet they keep going. Have you ever thought of what we would have to go through if we had to think about breathing or having our hearts beat in order to stay alive. There would be no time for anything else. How complex and amazing our bodies are, our hearts that beat away, and our lungs that draw in the air to give us the energy to function. This is God. This is God sustaining me every minute of every day. So even if His timing is not mine, if His answers do not come when I want, there is evidence of Him all around me if I am willing to look.

So I will not fear - disease, death, debt, clutter, or the faults that plague me - even tens of thousands drawn up on every side. Nothing is too much for God, or me, because I have God with me and His enormous power that can even raise the dead is at work in my life. What a thought!

We just need to call out for His deliverance. It is okay to do this. The psalmist is bold and says "Arise, O Lord! Deliver me" (vs. 7a). He was not afraid to ask. Most of the time, we do not have because we do not ask. We want but we forget to go to the one who can provide (James 4:2-3). We must remember that those who ask will receive (Matt 7:7-8). I will receive something and it will be good and good for me.

Finally, deliverance comes from the Lord. Everything else will fail us or let us down. People die, accidents happen. There are no guarantees except one - that the Lord will deliver - and that in itself should be enough.

Bless us Lord because no one else truly can.

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